American childrens TV producers

[ozzy72]

A quick question for my American cousins here. A friend of mine was in the States last year and her little boy got into Thomas The Tank Engine and Bob The Builder (Mini-mod loves 'em). Now she lent me some of their Thomas and Bob DVDs and they've been "dubbed" into 'American' English..... why?
I remember when I lived in the US that everyone loved my accent and the girls couldn't get enough of it at school in California 8-) 8-) 8-) Ahh Cecilia Schultz.... a singularly happy memory [smiley=engel017.gif]
I'm sorry but Sir Topham Hat should not sound like someone from Texas with a really bad cold! Thomas shouldn't sound like some half-wit from Ohio etc etc. I won't even go into Disney making Winnie The Pooh sounding like an imbecile from Oklahoma (I mean these things are British)!
Do US TV producers (and certain idiots at Disney) suffer from xenophobia? Or do they think everyone should sound like that ****wit Barney (whom I hate even more than the 4 fat twits from the UK whose collective name begins with 'T')?
My American friends all love the UK accent, what is going on?

Mark (confused and terribly upset)

Ps. In Britain we don't dub things into an English accent... imagine a certain Mr. A. Baldwin with a Brummie accent

[Hagar]

Good point Mark. I've often wondered the same thing. British actors apparently make a fortune in Hollywood these days.

The original Thomas the Tank Engine series was narrated by Ringo Starr. Can't think of anyone better. They've even changed the name of it now.

PS. Actor David Prowse (Darth Vader in Star Wars) was on the radio the other day. He speaks with a broad West Country accent. He said that although the films were made in England with many British actors, George Lucas later had his voice dubbed into American without telling him. He is still upset about it.

[ozzy72]

Okay in the case of David "Darth Vader" Prowse I can understand it..... heck most Brits have trouble with his accent
I remember nearly dying laughing watching Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels having English subtitles for those who don't speak Cockney

[Ashar]

I watched that show a few days ago...Still sounded very British to me

[Hagar]

I watched that show a few days ago...Still sounded very British to me

Perhaps you watched the British version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Angelis

[Ashar]

I watched that show a few days ago...Still sounded very British to me

Perhaps you watched the British version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Angelis

Maybe so...I still love Thomas the Tank Engine...LOL...Wish I had a model railway set like that

[Omag 2.0]

Ehrm, you think that's bad? Try the Simpsons dubbed in German... now THAT is a crime...  ;D

[Ashar]

Ehrm, you think that's bad? Try the Simpsons dubbed in German... now THAT is a crime...  ;D

LOL...It's funnier in Italian...At least they kept the original "D'oh!"

[ozzy72]

You should try watching anything on Hungarian TV. The dubbing is dire! My favourite for a good laugh was Battle of Britain one night, they'd dubbed the English but subtitled the German

[Hagar]

You should try watching anything on Hungarian TV. The dubbing is dire! My favourite for a good laugh was Battle of Britain one night, they'd dubbed the English but subtitled the German

Probably dubbed the original English version which already has the German subtitles.

[microlight]

What bugs me the most about the US dubs of Thomas The Tank Engine is the input of the political-correctness brigade, who made sure that the Fat Controller is always called Sir Topham Hatt.

Nope, he's the Fat Controller - because there's also a Thin Controller for the narrow-gauge lines. Wouldn't be so bad if it was universally applied - but then we'd have 'A Little-Less-Than-Stunningly-Beautiful Betty', or 'The Beverly Slightly-Less-Than-Intelligent-Backwoods-Country-Folk', or 'Miami Vaguely-Undesirable-Activity' and that wouldn't do, would it!

I'd have voted for subtitles for anything Mr T said in 'The A Team' (AKA 'The Unlikely Team').

Hey, imagine Ringo overdubbing Mr T! The mind boggles.

[C]

Thomas the Tank engine never was recorded in English was it?

[ozzy72]

Liverpool is still part of the UK according to the maps Charlie... mind you the locals do tend towards incomprehensibility
Apparently the new voice of Thomas will be Pierce Brosnan Bond, Thomas is there no British icon safe from the disgustingly handsome Irish bloke?

[Tweek]

One thing I also don't get is why they have to completely change theme tunes.

The classic
Crap

Why fix something that's not broken?!

[eno]

My favourite gripe is US made programmes on the Discovery channel, which are then narrated for the British market by British actors, however they convert everything into METRIC despite the fact that I suspect the original American narration would be in Imperial.

I agree that these programmes are sold to the European market also .... so why not do a separate  narration for them in Metric, after all the UK has just won a case in Europe allowing us to keep our Imperial weights and measures and long may they continue.